Committee forwards proposed operating budget to full council

Thomas S. Hamilton, the city's director of finance, presented his recommended 2009-2010 operating budget to members of the Board of Esimate and Taxation at City Hall Monday Night.

Hour Photo / Danielle Robinson

Thomas S. Hamilton, the city's director of finance, presented his recommended 2009-2010 operating budget to members of the Board of Esimate and Taxation at City Hall Monday Night.

Hour Photo / Danielle Robinson

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Thomas S. Hamilton, the city's director of finance, presented his recommended 2009-2010 operating budget to members of the Board of Esimate and Taxation at City Hall Monday Night.

Hour Photo / Danielle Robinson

Thomas S. Hamilton, the city's director of finance, presented his recommended 2009-2010 operating budget to members of the Board of Esimate and Taxation at City Hall Monday Night.

Hour Photo / Danielle Robinson

Committee forwards proposed operating budget to full council

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NORWALK — Members of the Common Council’s Finance/Claims Committee on Thursday night recommended setting the bottom line on Norwalk’s 2013-14 operating budget in accordance with the city finance director’s recommendations.

Committee members recommended setting the preliminary expenditures cap at $294,798,999, which reflects Director of Finance Thomas S. Hamilton’s recommended budget less an anticipated $16.5 million in state and federal aid to Norwalk.

The Common Council has until Tuesday to set a preliminary expenditures cap for the budget.

The Board of Estimate and Taxation will use the cap as a ceiling when crafting the budget and setting property tax rates in early May.

“The main question is taxes and it’s true (that) the Board of Estimate and Taxation determines the final mill rates in the spring,” said Councilman Bruce I. Kimmel. But “what we do Tuesday night will have an effect on the mill rates.”

Kimmel, although not on the committee, was among a number of council members at City Hall to hear public comment and later weigh in on an expenditures cap for the budget.

When the vote came, committee Chairman Carvin J. Hilliard and member David T. McCarthy voted in favor of setting the cap at $294.8 million.

McCarthy, while not necessarily supporting the Board of Education’s requested budget, said money should be included for Common Core State Standards.

“We need to focus on implementing the Common Core curriculum over the next two years, as we are following 48 other states in doing so,” McCarthy said afterward. “And subsequent to that, we could look at adding more to the BOE budget.”

Miklave said the council focuses on 5 percent of the budget rather than the remaining 95 percent.

“All the Common Council will do on Tuesday is talk about the $5 or $10 million, or in this case $1.2 million that’s not being funded — not the $300-plus million that is being funded,” Miklave said.

A $1.2 million gap exists between the school board’s requested budget and Hamilton’s recommended budget and cap.

“We need to find a way to fully fund the Board of Education, in particular with a 3.4 percent increase on their side,” said Councilman Warren A. Pena. “We should be making that investment.”

Without the $1.2 million, the school board would cover contractual obligations and focus on implementing Common Core Standards, said Michael Barbis, chairman of the board’s Finance Committee.

Barbis, however, said the board would be unable to hire a science curriculum specialist, art teacher at Brien McMahon High School, aides and other positions the board is seeking to restore.

During a public hearing beforehand, more than a half-dozen teachers, administrators and parents asked committee members to fully fund the school board’s budget request.

“We are long past cutting the fat. We’re long past cutting out maybe a couple lean muscles,” said Suzanne Koroshetz, BMHS principal. “We have cut out essential organs.”

Hamilton's recommended budget, as presented to the Board of Estimate on Feb. 11, would boost the mill rate by 3.9 percent and the average annual property tax bill on the median single-family homes in the city's 4th Taxing District by $253.

“I would like to see the tax rate lower than 3.9 percent,” Fred Wilms, tax board chairman, told The Hour. “But spending reductions have to have a coherent basis behind them. I don’t believe in just taking a meat cleaver and chopping things up.”